Communications

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Please provide copies of all Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), from 1994 to the present date, between the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, on the subject of joint/mutually beneficial development of Directed-Energy "Non-Lethal" Weapons, and on the subject of their joint use by State/County/City Law Enforcement (Police) Officers and Departments and the military.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

I will certainly appeal this no-responsive-records response, but I would like to understand what three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security you are referring to, since the reference you have given is not revealing in this regard. Kindly elucidate.

I would also like to point out that it should be a matter of public knowledge what the Department of Justice is doing regarding developing and permitting the use of weaponry of any kind within the country, since this weaponry ends up in the hands of local police. This FOIA request particularly focuses on Directed-Energy Non-Lethal Weapons, which are weapons using invisible Electromagnetic Radiation and Sonic Energy, among others, all of which comprise Covert Weaponry--by definition, an invisible pulse of radiation is Covert. There is obviously therefore added need for absolute transparency with the public in this regard--every citizen has a right to know what kind of Covert Weaponry is within the arsenal of local police and in what circumstances such weaponry will or can be used. Please be aware also that No public debate has occurred yet regarding the advisability of outfitting local police with Covert Directed-Energy "Non-Lethal Weapons."

It is not acceptable therefore that the Department of Justice can seek to conceal the nature of the relationship with the Department of Defense regarding the joint development and use of Directed-Energy weapons. Information regarding this relationship exists in the public domain, hence this FOIA request, seeking documentation.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 29, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I apologize for not responding to your inquiry earlier. The letter that you received on June 8, 2015, states that there were no records found responsive to your May 29, 2015 Freedom of Information Act request.

On June 13, 2015, you emailed this Office in order to seek clarification on the paragraph of the June 8 letter that deals with three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security. These three categories are referred to as Exclusions under the Freedom of Information Act. The language in the letter you received is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist.